Wednesday, March 20, 2013

India: Rural Areas Pull Ahead in Renewables

From The Daily Pioneer:

Off-grid renewable energy is the future, and village communities are increasingly charting the way forward and assuming lead over cities, which are consuming alarming proportions of fossil fuel-derived energy

About 75 million of India’s 226 million households (400 million people) have no access to power. In rural areas the electrification rate is 47.5 per cent. This has an adverse cascading effect on human health, economic development and political stability. The efforts towards ensuring equitable growth and securing the marginalised are also compromised. The way out can be decentralised energy solutions that rely on the progressive renewable energy alternatives.

Clean energy generation for rural areas is gaining ground with biomass-powered energy, community solar power plants, methane and wind-powered energy alternatives. The availability of locally generated renewable energy has the potential of fostering confidence in the local community and help achieve growth in sustainable livelihoods.